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      >> Super High Speed Main TGV, Thalys and AGV Eurostars ICEs and Velaros AGV Shinkansen Maglev Sokol from Russia Pendolinos Swiss Cisalpino Pendol. Watching sf. Paris GNo SNCF TGV Roster North American S.F. Chinese Super Fast Russian Super Fast Super High S. Records Super High Speed News Super High Speed Lines Super High S Manufacturers Super H S Technologies         | 4rail.net - Super High Speed Trains | |
 Welcome to the main page of the 4rail.nets ever growing super high speed and high speed trains section! You will find here several dozen of the most successfull trains of these types plus a lot of information on the infrastructure, manufacturers and the advanced technology needed. You may also be interested in the News Section on the High Speed Trains. To keep ever growing family of super high speed trains of running speeds of 280 km/h (174 mph) and over on this page within limits we will also soon create another page for many interesting high speed trains of speeds 220 km/h - 280 km/h (137 mph - 174 mph). There will be as well be a new page dedicated to the super high speed future as well as the "semi" high speed page (200-220 km/h / 124-137 mph). Super High Speed Reference Super High Speed in Europe Currently Europe is the leader in Super High Speed technology: TGV and AGV: The French highly successful Super High Speed trains. Over 500 units built since 1980s and in daily use in several countries! Enjoy the tens of TGV pictures of over 10 types on the TGV/AGV Page and other pages. Including but not limited to TGV- Paris Sud-Est, TGV-Atlantique, TGV-Reséau, TGV-Duplex, TGV-Reséau Hybrid, TGV-Dasy, TGV Iris320, Postal TGV, and a number of other interesting types on the TGV/AGV Page! The "next generation" add on to supplement the famous line of TGVs is the Alstom AGV, starting its journey in Italy in 2011! Velaro and the ICE: The German challengers on the super high speed class. Velaro variants have been the best sellers recently in all markets. Germany, Spain, Russia, China, Currently around 300 units worldwide, ... Eurostar: Effectively a disguised TGV, the Eurostars connect the United Kingdom with the Continental Europe destinations. These double length formidable TGV trains have revolutionized the traveling between UK and the continent.  Picture: A Paris Gare du Nord is one of the most interesting places for seeing the international and French national super high speed trains including a dozen types of the TGV, 2 Thalyses (Thalys PBKA in the picture) and the Eurostar units (in the background) as well as the german ICE3/Velaro units! Picture by Sanna Siissalo. For the nonconventional trains class the German developed Maglev is the probably the most interesting, floating on the "rail" this class of vehicles has so far reached speeds of up to 581 km/h! Bomabardier has also been active on building super high speed trains for Europe. We will study their trains later in detail. (Conventional) High Speed in Europe Not everything is super fas even in Europe, where the traditions are hundred year long on constructing the high speed trains and infra. Some of the most interesting solutions include trains like Pendolino, X2, ICE-T and ICE-TD on the Tilting Trains Special Page.  Super High Speed in Asia Asia is the challenger for Europe in the use of Super High Speed technology and will overtake it as the number one in the length of the network, trains and speeds used in a decade. You might enjoy the following Asian subjects: - Shinkansens: The original bullet train run on the new rail line, the Shinkansen. The traffic started in 1960s and the systems have been gradually enhanced ever since. The Japanese today have a lot to offer in classes of high speed travel and super high speed travelling. - Chinese Super High Speed efforts will no doubt lead to number one ranking in the world in just 10 years! The Shanghai Maglev line is one example of the might of the rising Asia. Also, first in the world the Chinese will accompany Bombardier to implement a new 380 km/h (236 mph) super high speed train techonology on the 'conventional' rails. - Korea has both TGVs and super high speed train KTX2 of its own design, plus experience on operations for over 10 years. High Speed in U.S.A. Currently the U.S. is getting started with the super high speed and high speed efforts. There is an Acela high speed train running partially high speed network in the east. In the Midwest as well as in Texas there are plans for the electric high speed trains. California is planning the super high speed network to connect with it's largest population centers. Many major trains manufacturers have presented their scenarios for the fleet needed for realize the potential of the super high speed travel. However, you have to realise the Americans are just considering on this mode of travel, there is nothing concrete yet in operation or under construction.  Super
High Speed Efforts in
the U.S.
Super High Speed News
Super High Speed News
Page Updated
regularly
Super High Speed
News for 2009 Other High Speed Articles To be linked. See the footer for a 20+ high speed page menu! | Also on super high speed  Super High Speed News provides you the newest happenings and trends in the super fast railroading.  A TGV and AGV Theme Page provides information on these most succesfull super high speed trains. 
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| Traditional Super Fast Trains | |
| TGV's and AGV's | |
 TGV Atlantique unit 354, one of the numerous single story TGV trains in France. Picture by Ilkka Siissalo. | TGV
has become an icon of the Super Fast Trains. Currently there are
almost 500
trains trafficing daily on the large TGV-fleet of the SNCF (French
National Railways) and other
railway operators. In addition to being the technological success story
the TGV has
been an immense economical success as well with its
carefully balanced combination of high tech and traditional and tried
solutions. In the beginning there was the lack of money...the TGV story starts with a 30 year struggle for the money before the first TGV Paris-Sud-Est could dash between the French cities of Paris and Lyon in 1981. Since then, there has been continuous succesfull expansion with new TGV train types and new high speed lines opening to new territories every few years... Today the French Super Fast Train Network is the best in the world. Technologically advanced high speed links connect the largest cities both in France and abroad. While much of the France has been built already, the networks have now expanded to connect with the neighboring countries as well. Further information: TGV's
by type...
(TGV-Atlantique, TGV-Dasy, TGV-Duplex, TGV-Hybrid (Duplex),
TGV-POS, TGV-PSE, TGV-PSE-La Poste, TGV-Réseau,
...) Updated
recently AGV
(Super High Speed EMU by Alstom)...
NEW!
Thalyses...
Updated
recently
Eurostars... Updated
recently
TGV
Lyria... NEW! Networks: Superfast networks in
France, national and international... |
 
 Lots of more
information and pictures on the TGV / AGV page!... |
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| ICE's and Velaro Family of Super High Speed Trains | |
 The ICE3 unit unboarding is in Munich Germany. Design meets with a state of the art engineering!   | ICE
is the mainline for the German super high speed railway operations.
There
are
today several types of the ICE trains. While ICE3 and Velaros are the
latest in
technology, the ICE1 and ICE2 trains still form the backbone for the
traffic.
There is also a ICE-T tilting version for the high speed traffic on
conventional rail lines as well the the diesel variant of this tilting
train, the ICE-TD.
The Super High speed in the German area The
history of the German high speed... ICE
1 and ICE 2... ICE3
and Velaro...
ICE-T
and ICE-TD...
German super high speed corridors... 
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information and pictures on the Inter City Express and Velaro Page...
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| Eurostars | |
 The Eurostars are serving mainly Great Britains connections to the continent. The travel from London to Paris only takes 2,5 hours currently on these trains! | Eurostars
operate internationally from the United Kingdom as well as within Great
Britain and inside France covering some schedules for the TGV's.
Essentially a disguised TGV train most Eurostar sets are nearly double
the length of a normal TGV train (393m vs.
200m). Taking a closer
look you will find numerous interesting design differences making it
easy to place
the origins of the train sets outside the continental Europe. Read further information on the Eurostar Capital and Regional: Eurostars... Updated
recently Other TGV-type trains can be found at:
TGV's
by type... Updated
recently
Thalyses...
Updated
recentlyFuture additions: Superfast networks in the UK
and Channel Tunnel...  
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information and pictures on the Eurostar Page...
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| Pendolino (from the High Speed Class), AGP. ICE-T, ICE-TD, Talgo, X2 | |
 | Building
super high speed rail networks can be economically challenging. Often
some practicing is needed before the decision is made on building. The
tilting trains provide the solution to get started with high speed on
the normal track. These are an
economical solution to bridge the gap between two modes of
operation. There have been a number of passsive and active tilting solutions from the first trial almost 100 years ago to the current Pendolinos and similar tilting EMUs and DMUs. Once the traffic picks up with the tilting fleet of trains, the real super high speed networks building can many times be justified. On the left the tilting diesel powered high speed ICE-TD train in service between Copenhagen Denmark and Hamburg Germany. Tilting
Trains Special Page... |
 Trenitalia ETR500 "Eurostar" (written on the train!). As fast as oldest TGVs, true Eurostars and ICEs (max. 300km/h), Italy is less known for its super high speed networks and trains although it is one of the big high speed railroading countries! | Pendolino
is a family of tilting high speed unit trains originally
built by FIAT Ferroviaria, the company which since has been acquired
by the TGV
manufacturer Alstom. Variants can be found in several countries like
Czech Republic, China, Croatia, Italy, Finland, Slovenia, Switzerland,
soon to be followed by
Russia, ... 
Above the Finnish VR-Yhtyma variant of the Fiat Ferroviaria Pendolino. More trains will follow in 2010 to start the high speed traffic between Helsinki Finland and St Petersburg in Russia. New Pendolino units have also been ordered to Switzerland to replace the aging Cisalpino model 470s. These new units will run 250 km/h (155 mph) unlike the Finnish-Russo new units which support just 220 km/h (137 mph), the traditional maximum speed. Both are however good results for the tilting train sets in the demanding winter conditions. |
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Pendolino & tilting
trains theme page on
4rail.net... NEW
Cisalpino (ETR470 Pendolino)
story by Ilkka Siissalo in the Swiss section... NEW
Cisalpino 2 (ETR610 Pendolino)
ready for operations in Switzerland... NEW
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| Japanese Super High Speed & Shinkansen | |
 | Shinkansen
is the pride of Japan. Started in 1964 the ever developing high speed
network is operated with a dozen types
of bullet trains. In the picture on the left a Japan
Railways Central/West Shinkansen 300 is resting at Osaka station
in southern Japan. The Shinkansen series 300 is capable of speeds of up to 300 km/h, the design speed for many Shinkansen track. The speed for trains, even the newer ones is often slightly lower. We belive this is mainly due to the frequent earth quakes in Japan, since there should be no technical limitations for the high tech country like Japan. Interestingly, Japan originally chose a different solution from France for the super high speed lines. While the Japanese "bullet" trains have their own track all the way, and are more or less confined there, the European super high speed trains have their own corridors, plus they can leave to the normal track at any point to enable a much more flexible approach for the service. For example the French super fast network has been built one piece at a time, and much of the time TGV's have been running almost anywhere on the traditional network as well. In 1984 - at the time of the first LGV (super high speed line) between Paris and the Lyon - the editor travelled between Paris and Nice on TGV, "flying on the ground" where the LGV was opened and travelling slightly faster than a normal train where the traditional tracks had to be used.
Japan's
Super High Speed Page... Updated
recently |
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| Chinese Super Fast Efforts | |
| This Japan railways Series 300 looks quite similar to the Chinese CRH 2 (CHR 2 nose is slightly more futuristic looking), while China is using its wast resources to exploit every technology available for the license manufacturing.  Picture:
The Velaro-C on the test run outside Beijing China.
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China is a huge country, measured both with population and area, it
started a few years ago an impressive program to develop much of its
rail networks and
to learn every needed technology, which might enable it to gain a
dominant
foothold on the super high speed in the future. Despite the fact that China's starting level has been backward at best, the recent developments aim for high technology, high capacity solutions. To name one: China (Shanghai) is the only country with a working magnetic levitation rail line between its airport and the center of the city. China has as well started several long distance high speed line projects, which aim for establishing it as a number one super high speed nation, measured with every factor except the highest used speed. On the conventional rail three different CRH trains open path for the future volumes of the high speed traffic. All of these are license built from the models of the leading western manufacturers Alstom (2 models) and Siemens (1 model). Below you will find a chart on some of the Chinese super fast trains today. This generation is built on licensed technology, but this will change in the future as the Chinese will develop their own technologies and solutions. The key: much higher volumes than any other country can offer!  Picture: The Maglev mock up outside Munich Airport in Germany. Picture by Ilkka Siissalo. |
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| Chinese Super High Speed Train Types at Glance | |||||||
| Train type | Units | Top speed km/h (mph) |
Electrical system | Power kW
| Structure | Passengers | Notes
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| China National Railways | |||||||
| CRH 2 | 60 | 250/300
( / ) | 25 kV
50 Hz | 9600 | CU+2P+2U+2P+CU
| 610 | Looks like Japans series 300/700 |
| CRH 3 | 60 | 300 (
) | 25 kV
50 Hz | 8800 | CP+1U+1P+2U+1P+1U+CP | 600 | Looks
like German ICE3 /Velaro |
| CRH 5 | 60 | 250 (
) | 25 kV
50 Hz | 5500 | CUP+1UP+1UU+1UP+ 2U+1PU+CPU |
600 | Looks quite like Finnish Pendolino, which was the starting point for design. |
| Maglev Shanghai | | ||||||
| Spanish Super Fast Trains | |
 | Spain
is improving fast its rail networks with impressive projects. Although
many
projects were originally late in timetables, these projects are now
showing
remarkable results and the passengers will be able to travel a large
network of
several types of high speed rail vehicles. The Spanish fleet of super high speed trains consists of the Renfe TGV, Talgo and Velaro-E solutions. We will cover this subject later in more detail. Picture onn the left: An impressive silhouette of the Renfe AVE model Velaro-E. Photo courtesy Siemens AG. |
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| Russian Super Fast Efforts | |
 | Russia
is last of the bigger European nations to add a super fast trains fleet
on its networks, although it has had efforts on this sector for
decades. In the Soviet Days the Sokol-prototype train was to
compete with its western counterparts. Although Sokol never got
anywhere
(there is one half built prototype pictured on the left), the
ambition lives on. Russia's
Sokol Picture Tour on the test rink... Updated
recently Russia is currently using its wealth to expand its super fast rail networks between the bigger cities. RZD, the Russian Railways, has started many ambitious track improvement projects and ordered new rolling stock. Siemens of Germany will deliver 8 units of its lower speed (250 km/h max.) Velaro model. At least one of these was seen at Innotrans 2008 and is already in test use. In a joint venture with Finnish Railways the RzD will buy from Alstom of Italy 4 units of max 220 km/h Pendolinos. So the start will be very humble, as both types of the units are delivered in 2009. The traffic between St Petersburg and Moscow is expected to start in 2010 and it remains to be seen, how well just 8 units will serve between these two huge cities. The Pendolinos are aimed for international service starting 2010 between Helsinki Finland and St Petersburg Russia cutting the travel times drastically from the current 5,5 hours. The Velaros (Sapsan) will start their traffic in 2009. The Soviet Union had its day with the high speed trains as well. Following the path of Japanese bullet train Shinkansen, the Soviets went ahead on their project to shorten the travel time between two of its largest cities Moscow and Leningrad (now St Petersburg). A decision was made to develop high speed train with a speed range of 200-250 km/h. In 1967 an order for the prototype of 14 modules was issued for 3 kV DC (a voltage too low for high speed for real, not providing enough power for acceleration). Altogether over 50 different organizations in the USSR were involved in this project, so it must have been one of the top projects on the priority list! In December 1973 the first train rolled out of Riga wagon building factory. Only two ER200s were ever built after all this effort. Interestingly the initial idea was to make all wagons powered, like on some Japanese bullet trains, but in reality first and last vagons were built as not motorized. The use in passenger traffic began only on March 1st 1984 after almost two decades of extensive testing! The ER-200 train has an aluminium body. Every second wagon has a pantograph. The second train was built only first in 1988! It has some differences in electrical control schematics. Visually seen from the front the train has extra lamp on top of cabin and doubled vertical side lights. In order to have replacement for the existing front wagons, and to build a third train in the future, in 1990 additional two front wagons were built. Travel time on ER-200 between Moscow and Leningrad/St Petersburg was 4 hours 39 minutes. In April 2008 Russian Railways announced a future withdrawal of ER-200 type trains due to the development of the new super high speed line between Moscow and St Petersburg. This is the line that the Velaro 250s will use. Picture on the left: an impressive nose of one of the eigth state of the art Sapsan / Velaro-Rus trains curently in test runs in Russia. Notice the huge Russian style coupler found also on the aboce Sokol test train! |
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| Magnetic Levitation | |
| Transrapid Maglev from Germany | |
 Transrapid Maglev mock up at Muenchen airport. |
Transrapid
Maglev project has unfortunately been cancelled in Munich germany. We
were happy that the Maglev was finally gathering momentum! The
recent Bavarian decision to
connect Munich Airport with the city center using Transrapid trains was
a major step forward for the project. The two previous installations
have been in Shanghai China, where the maglevs connect similarly
airport with the city, and the test track in the northern Germany.
However due to miscalculations of the costs, the actual project costs
were double compared with the estimates, so the economical
considerations, not the
technical, were the reason for cancellation. We hope that the project
will be completed later, when the situation changes. The idea of magnetic levitation is to minimize the friction and mechanical support, thus allowing for more comfortable rides on greater speeds up to several hundred kilometers per hour. Use of this technology provides an almost noiseless train movement, unlike the current super high speed trains. The Maglevs have not been very successfull because of the initial investment costs, low transportation capacity and incompatibility issues (since there is no compatible infrastructure available). There might also be issues on the high energy field's effects on human beings. More on Transrapid Maglevs on the Magnetic Leviatation Trains Special Page. Because this train might show the way for the future transportation of people, we will follow the developments closely.
Special Maglev
Super High Speed Page Opened! NEW! |
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| Other
interesting
pages in this category on 4rail.net Super
Fast Trains Main Page Updated
Super
High Speed Trains News NEW!
Super
High Speed Trains
records Page NEW!
TGV
& AGV page Recently Updated
Eurostars Updated
AGV Page NEW Intercity
Express - ICE and Velaro Page Updated
Shinkansen
picture & fact page NEW
Watching Super Fast Train at Paris Gare du
Nord NEW! The
SNCF TGV Roster Page NEW Pendolino
special page Updated
Cisalpino
(ETR470 Pendolino) story by Ilkka
Siissalo in the Swiss section! NEW
Sokol from
Russia Updated
High
Speed in
Russia NEW!
Super
High Speed Efforts in
the U.S. NEW!
Super
High Speed in
China NEW!
Maglev
technology Page - levitation on the rail NEW Super
High Speed
Manufacturers... NEW!
Super
High Speed Lines and Corridors... Updated
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